Chapter 1078 - The Shocking Replay

The battle training mission was recorded.

On the day after the training mission, the replay was shown to Minister Qin in the form of a virtual reality replay.

This time, Li Gaoliang, as well as the nine other soldiers, all became NPCs.

Lu Zhou had become two people; one was in the form of an NPC, the person standing in the command room, and the other was his real character, which was standing next to Minister Qin as both of them spectated the battle.

The initial speech was over.

After Li Gaoliang announced for the team to “begin” their battle, Lu Zhou brought Minister Qin to the command cabin of the starship. They could observe the entire battle in this room.

The battle against the Swarm Host was tragic.

Even though Lu Zhou had seen the battle before, he still couldn’t help but cringe when Li Gaoliang was “sacrificed”.

When Minister Qin saw the sharp claws tore through the soldiers’ armor, his eyebrows twitched.

“Isn’t that... painful?”

The device Minister Qin was connected to was different from the experimental device.

He could even feel the warm breeze blowing on his face.

Everything felt so real, even to the point where he couldn’t distinguish this from reality.

He had chills sent down his spine when he saw the tragic scene of the soldiers. He clenched his fists.

Lu Zhou said, “No, they don’t.”

Lu Zhou was standing in front of the holographic console as he reached out and tapped in the air. He watched everything fragment into tiny pieces around him and spoke in a casual tone.

“You can try recalling the last time you dreamed. The stimuli that the nervous system can withstand in a dream are limited. Whether it’s pain, heat, or touch. When the stimuli reach the maximum level of the nervous system, you won’t feel anything. Instead, you’ll wake up from your dream.

“The virtual reality equipment is similar to having a dream. If the pain sensation, or other sensations, reaches above the threshold, the user would lose their connection with the neural demodulator and wake up.”

Minister Qin was relieved.

The battle replay was over.

Minister Qin took off his helmet and stood up.

“I am optimistic about this technology.” He stared at Lu Zhou for a while and said in a serious manner, “Actually, this isn’t perfected yet, right?”

“Of course.”

Another person might have skipped over the issues, but Lu Zhou had nothing to hide.

“Actually, I was talking with Li Gaoliang about this yesterday. Even though the virtual reality system can simulate a training mission, it cannot replace real live ammunition training. Things like muscle memory and battlefield intuition can’t be learned in the virtual world.”

Minister Qin nodded.

“I know what you mean.”

As long as machines did not completely replace humans on the battlefield, the VR system would still contain many limitations.

However, even then, its application to the national defense field was fascinating.

If an overseas embassy was hijacked, they only needed a map, an architectural drawing, and a small amount of intelligence. Then, they could perform a number of tactical simulations before the real rescue mission even began.

This would greatly increase the effectiveness of the aerospace paratroopers.

Lu Zhou paused for a second then spoke.

“... In addition to its limited applications, the technology has demanding hardware requirements. It is difficult for normal computers to handle this level of data processing, so it has to be at least server-grade, maybe even supercomputer grade. Otherwise, the virtual reality system won’t be able to run stably.

“However, even though the computation required is large, I believe that if we optimize the operating system, we can reduce the computation required.

“No to mention that even if this problem can’t be solved, it won’t affect this technology. Cloud computing is one of the major developing trends of the Internet. After 5G is completed, the computing work can be handed over to a central server, while the helmet acts only as a signal receiving terminal.”

After Minister Qin heard Lu Zhou, he took a deep breath and asked in a serious manner, “I have to thank you.”

“No need for that.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’ll be happy as long as it’s used in the right place.”

Minister Qin nodded and spoke.

“I can promise you that.”

...

Minister Qin didn’t stay at the Institute for Advanced Study for long. After chatting with Lu Zhou about the possible application of virtual reality in the field of national defense, he went to take a plane back to Beijing.

Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense also happened to come here today. After Lu Zhou came back from sending Minister Qin out, Director Li smiled and spoke.

“He left?”

“Yeah...” Lu Zhou sat down on the couch and said, “The department plans on ordering a batch of VR systems, and they want us to compile a training program for them—”

Director Li quickly said, “There’s no reason for me to know that.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “It’s not a huge secret... Okay, it should stay confidential, but you have the security clearance to know this, right?”

Director Li coughed and said, “Thank god I do... But I think you should be careful.”

“Okay then, I misspoke.”

Director Li changed the subject and asked, “Speaking of which, how is the development of applying virtual reality to the civilian field?”

Lu Zhou thought for a while and said, “The compilation of the virtual reality system has been completed, whether it is for military or civilian use. However, I haven’t decided on how to release this technology to the public.”

There was no doubt that once virtual reality was released, it would disrupt the modern Internet system.

Not only would it change people’s understanding of the Internet, but it would completely change how people interact and use the Internet.

Disruptive technology would inevitably bring disruptive effects.

In fact, Lu Zhou wasn’t really sure if the public was ready to see this technology.

Director Li nodded and took a sip of tea.

After a while, he spoke.

“Remember the thing I talked about?”

Lu Zhou: “What?”

“About releasing this technology to the public. Actually, we held a meeting before I came here.”

Director Li paused for a second and said, “Our suggestion is that, this technology mostly benefits society. You don’t have to wait for it to be perfect before releasing it.

“What if someone else solves the technology and releases it before you?!”